We’re kicking off the weekend with a bit of Flyers hockey, as they’re right back at it again for a matinee this afternoon. The last time we saw the Flyers, they were dropping the first of this two game series to the Rangers 8-3, in another in their growing list of embarrassing losses this season. But we’re hoping that they’re able to pretty swiftly put that one behind them and rebound with a stronger, more complete performance this time around. A little bit of revenge on this fine Saturday? No complaints here.
Players to watch
Oskar Lindblom
He was held off the scoresheet on Thursday, but over the last little bit here it’s really looked like Lindblom has been finding his game again and trending in the right direction. The Flyers are certainly going to need players up and down the lineup to step up and produce a bit more if they want to have a more complete game, and it seems like Lindblom is poised to be able to lead that group. Is today the day he gets going again? Here’s hoping.
Brian Elliott
Elliott came in in relief of Carter Hart on Thursday, and he’s going to be getting the start this afternoon. The numbers for that one don’t tell a very pretty picture—three goals on 11 shots—but Elliott also once again wasn’t receiving much support from his defense in this one. Starting him here makes some sense, and we’re hoping he can bring a solid showing, but we’re also getting deeper into “hope he doesn’t get too tired and overworked here” territory. The Flyers don’t have much of a choice but to keep playing him, but the situation certainly grows more and more tenuous the more frequently he’s played.
Two big questions
What kind of response are we going to get?
We’ve been asking this all season, after every tough loss, but here we are again. The Flyers got blown out on Thursday and looked really flat through most of the game. Both players and coach expressed frustration after the game, but words like that only go so far. We know the Flyers can respond well after a loss, we’ve seen it so far this season, but now it’s imperative that they step up and bring a stronger effort in this one. The Flyers’ chances of making the playoffs are dwindling, but for their own sake, they need to put in some good work to get back on track and keep this spiral from getting any worse. We’d like to see them string together a series of better games, but, you know, just one would be a good start. So let’s do that please?
Does this game get out of control?
As something of a tangent to our first question, we’re coming into this wondering about the physical tone for this one. Thursday’s game already got chippy, and there’s a real possibility that we see at least some of that carry over into today’s game. How wild is it going to get? We’ll find out soon.
Puck drops at 1:00 this afternoon, and you can check out the Flyers’ projected lineup below:
Forwards
van Riemsdyk – Couturier – Konecny
Giroux – Hayes – Farabee
Lindblom – Patrick – Voracek
Raffl – Laughton – Aube-Kubel
Defense
Provorov – Braun
Sanheim – Myers
Gostisbehere – Morin
Goalies
Elliott
(Hart)
